It's done!!! Sailed it on the 12th. Everything works well. These pictures don't do it justice. The shine doesn't show up inside the hangar. But it does look good. Here is the adventure story that is the first sail... The seas were a bit rough on the 12th. Rougher than I would have liked for a maiden voyage, but the boat was done and we wanted to go. The water was calling our name. As soon as we pushed out, a kite surfer cut in front of us and hooked his lines on my mast. The wind was a good 15 or more, the waves were about waist high, and it pulled us over. FIRST SAIL, 20 FEET!!!! and pulled over. Right there in the surf. What a pain in the a--. Trying to get that thing back up with the wind and the waves pounding on us... After about 20 minutes of fighting the elements, we finally got under way and it was good from there. I'm back in sailing business! YAY!

Did you have the facilities in that hangar to do the gelcoat? I'm curious because I've been wanting to do a bottom job on my yellow H16 but I'm afraid I won't get the colors to match up. Might consider just re-gelcoating the entire thing.

Any info on cost, time, special tips on gelcoating would be greatly appreciated.

Yes Zach, I did all the work there. It was a huge mess. The only reason that I did it there is because the hangar is going to be demolished in a few months and the mess was not a problem because of it. I honestly don't know if I would go through that much work again. I have about 80 hours of labor in it and about $800 in just the refinishing. That doesn't include the new tramp, lines, rigging, traps, and misc other stuff. Looks great though! BTW... the first 2 gallons of yellow that I bought from Merritt Marine (A very good company) was no good! There was not enough pigment or something in it. You could see right through it. I took some of it to Fiber Glass Coatings and they said "no good" so I bought 2 more gallons from them. GOOD STUFF! Covered well. It is highly recommended that the color under the yellow is uniform first. I changed from white to yellow and i had to shoot the repairs white first or it would take way too many coats of yellow to cover. Remember, LOTS of sanding and polishing.

The boat looks really really good! Well done... We should go sailing together sometime. I don't know if you have hooked up with the CABB guys yet, but they do something each month on Biscayne. It would be fun to have another H16 to sail with.

To reelknotty, wpbeyes, or anyone. Are there any really good guides out there for overhauling your hauls. I bought a '72 this summer and want to re-gelcoat her before the next sailing season. I would be really interesting in knowing what to look out for, and any tips/tricks.

I don't know of any specific guides to overhauling Hobie hulls. Just make sure they are worth refinishing before you waste time and materials on them. If they need repair, use standard fiberglass procedures and fix em. If they look like they need a lot of repairs (delaminated areas, cracks, and such), you might want to find a better set to start with. Mine were solid on top and sides, just had the delam area by the transoms. and also stress cracks in the gel coat from someone strapping them down to the trailer by going over the top of the hulls. So I figured mine were worth it. As far as fiberglass procedures, West System has a pdf called fiberglass boat repair and maintenance. Hope this helps.

Hi guys - I'm new to the Hobie board. I'm interested in the repair of the transom as I've also come across a badly corroded alumimium plate in my hobie restoration. Question is though - does this need to be replaced or can you replace it with a double thickness marine ply replacement laminated into the previous space?

I've done previous boats and have used marine ply in order to screw the gudgeon mounts to the hull. If I havent replaced the aluminium plate what are the issues I face?